


Perpetual Sunset

by writingfromdarkplaces



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Related, Episode: s02e23 Twilight, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-02 23:17:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8687392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingfromdarkplaces/pseuds/writingfromdarkplaces
Summary: While Tony is still recovering from the plague, Kate is approached by a young NSA analyst with disturbing news about a terrorist with a grudge against Gibbs and his team.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I have long, long, wanted to do something where Kate doesn't die. I've never felt up to it in the past. I'm still not sure that I am, but I had the perfect idea come to me.
> 
> Well, maybe not perfect, since I know the time doesn't connect well, but it's AU anyway, so we'll just say that Jake and Ellie were already at the NSA, married, and had dealt with part of the Parsa thing before Ari makes his move.

* * *

“Do you ever wish that we fought like normal couples?” Ellie asked, and Jake gave her a look across the table. She almost flinched. She supposed that she shouldn't be surprised that he was this angry, and she knew she could make things better if she just said what he wanted to hear—that she was sorry, she wouldn't ever break the rules like that, and that she'd made a mistake.

Trouble was, she didn't believe that and she knew herself well enough to know that she would do it again.

So did he.

“Jake, please. You did agree to meet me so we could talk. You haven't said a word all morning.”

He shook his head. “I'm afraid if I did, all I'd do is yell, and I don't have any interest in causing a scene. Since we can't go home—”

“Jake, it's safe. You know that it is,” Ellie said, frowning. “Parsa hasn't been there in weeks, and with the NSA watching the apartment, you'd know if he tried it again. He won't. They're trying to use it to catch him, and he doesn't want to be caught, to be stopped. They won't catch him with a trap. That was why I was trying to—”

“Stop,” Jake said, his voice that dangerous kind of quiet. “Don't try and justify that to me. I don't—You put our lives at risk. Our home was violated. And you are this close to being accused of treason.”

“I haven't done anything like that.”

“In this climate, that might not matter,” Jake reminded her. “Just because I'm a lawyer does not mean that I can defend you, and that's assuming that I'm not arrested with you—”

“You didn't even know.”

“That's my point,” he snapped. “You _kept_ that from me. A known terrorist was leaving gifts for you in our home, and you didn't tell me. You were toeing the line with treason, and you didn't tell me. Do you have any idea how betrayed I feel right now?”

She sighed. “Jake, it was not—”

“It _is_ like that,” he said. He shook his head again. “I think I need... a minute. I'm going to go get a refill, cool off for a second.”

Ellie nodded, fighting her urge to argue with him. He was hurting, and she hated that. She hadn't done any of this with the intention of hurting him. She was trying to find a terrorist and stop him, _really_ stop him. She knew that didn't justify her silence to most people, not at the NSA and also not to Jake. That part she did regret—he shouldn't feel like he couldn't trust her. She had been trying to do the right thing.

She didn't know how to fix this. Jake didn't see it the way she did, and that shouldn't be so hard to overcome, but it wouldn't change anything if she lied, and they both knew that it would be a lie if she made any promises now.

She twisted her lip, knowing she had about one chance at this.

Jake came back to the table, sitting down. He put his cup on the table, and she caught his hand. He frowned at her.

“I am not going to say that I wouldn't do it again, or that I...” Ellie stopped, taking a breath as she tried to get this right. “I know that I am always going to do what I think is right to stop people like Parsa, and I know those methods... I didn't do it to hurt you. I didn't want to lie to you. I just... I wanted to do the right thing.”

“I know,” he agreed. “It's just... Ellie, you're better at the big picture than this. You didn't seem to think about what it would do to me, to us, even to yourself. And that is not like you. You plan in advance, you don't rush, you—”

“Are incredibly boring.”

He snorted. “Like anyone would believe that. I'm the boring one, remember?”

She smiled, shaking her head. He was more adventurous than people might think. She took his other hand in hers. “So... you think maybe we could... try again? Without the terrorist this time?”

Jake laughed, though it was uncomfortable and short-lived. “That... shouldn't be funny. Or real and applicable to us.”

“Agreed,” she said, smiling at him. “So... is it totally wrong to talk about work now? Or should we discuss something else?”

“So instead, we profess our undying love for each other?”

“Yes,” she said, leaning over the table to kiss him. She didn't care how ridiculous it was. She was just glad that they were here again. She'd thought Parsa was going to end their relatively new marriage, and it had scared her. She didn't know that it had fully sunk in, or that it was even real. Maybe they were rushing it, covering over all of their problems because they didn't want to or know how to work through them.

She sat back down, letting his hands go as her thoughts spoiled the moment.

“Ellie?”

“We're not... rushing this, are we?”

He snorted. “If it helps, I'm still mad at you.”

“It does, a little,” Ellie said, though that sounded weird. She shouldn't be happy that he was mad, but then again, she knew it wasn't all fixed and forgotten, which was important. She just didn't know how to get past the rest of it.

“I saw they had some of those danishes you like so much.”

“I should hate you for that, but I actually think that just makes me love you more,” she told him, giving him another kiss before she rose.

* * *

Kate would never admit it, but she thought she missed Tony. She would never have believed it, but she knew that she was. He had almost died, and their lives would not be the same. Not that she needed an irritant like him in her life, but in some small ways, she was almost fond of him. She could consider him a brother, and she had learned things from him—another thing she would not admit.

She looked down at her phone. He would have sent some kind of text or posted something to Facebook by now, but she had nothing. No notifications of any kind.

She wouldn't mind if she wasn't waiting in line at the coffee shop. Otherwise she wouldn't, but she was bored. She didn't understand how she'd managed to get in line behind every single person with a complicated drink order, but she was, and it was slowly driving her insane.

“Excuse me, are you Kate Todd?”

Kate heard her name, turning around with a frown. She shouldn't have, that was a dead giveaway, but she had a hard time ignoring it when someone used it—maybe if they'd only said Kate, but they'd said _both_ of her names.

That was... unsettling.

“Kate Todd with NCIS,” the woman said, and Kate wondered how she could possibly know who she was. Kate did not know her at all, had never seen her before. Who was she? And what did she want? Kate was not taking any envelopes, that was for sure. She wasn't about to end up like Tony.

“Ellie, do not do this,” a man said, coming up next to the woman who had asked about the name. Early twenties, blonde—likely dyed due to the dark eyebrows—wearing a worn set of jeans and an oversized sweater that Kate would have said belonged to the man only his suit was ten times the price of anything she was wearing.

“I have to,” she said, giving him an apologetic smile right before she faced Kate again. “I need to talk to you. In private.”

Kate didn't know what to think of this. Her instinct on the woman said she was sincere, but it was difficult to say what she was sincere about. “I'm not sure I should do that. Who are you?”

“She is no one. Just forget about all of this,” the man said, pulling the woman along with him toward the door. She tried to pull away. “Ellie, don't. You are going to ruin everything. You're on thin ice as it is—do not do this.”

Kate didn't like this. That didn't sound right. Was she trying to get away from some kind of abuser? The guy in the suit and glasses didn't seem the type, but something was going on here. “If I can help, I would like to. Just tell me what's going on.”

“She can't.”

Kate shook her head. “I didn't ask you.”

“That doesn't change anything,” the man said. “It's classified above your level, and she knows better than to discuss it. We have to go.”

The woman shook her head. “Jake, please. I know how you feel, but this is wrong and we both know it. We discussed it last night. We can't sit back and do nothing.”

“We also took an oath to safeguard national security and one when we agreed to the terms of our clearance level. We signed non-disclosure agreements, remember?” Jake asked, and Kate was starting to reassess her position on this, though that didn't make her any less conflicted. “You are talking about throwing all of that away, and no, I am not going to let you do that. Again.”

“Is there a problem here?” One of the shop employees asked, coming around the counter.

“No,” Jake insisted. “My wife and I were just leaving.”

“As am I,” Kate said, deciding it in that second. She needed to know more. Maybe the man would have been more willing to talk if they weren't in public—unlikely if the information that the woman seemed determined to give was actually as classified as he said it was.

The man ushered his wife outside without a fight. Kate figured that was because she'd said she was leaving. Otherwise, this Ellie might have tried to stay. She followed behind the odd couple all the way over to a pickup truck.

“You want to tell me what that was about?”

“No,” the man answered. He opened the door, holding it for his wife. “I don't. Ellie, please get in the truck.”

She reached up and touched his cheek with both her hands. She gave him a kiss, which Kate had the unpleasant feeling might be their last, and stepped back.

Letting go, she faced Kate. “Ari Haswari is back in the states.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate learns more about Ari's presence and shares that with Gibbs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figure once the introductions are over, the real fun starts. This whole set up part is difficult. Though the not wanting to be written part probably has to do with my brain and work more than the idea itself. I hope, at least.

* * *

Kate thought that maybe a sucker punch would have hurt a lot less. She couldn't entirely be sure. A part of her was still haunted by the choice she'd made, not using that knife against Ari. She knew that she could have ended so much by taking him out there. She still hated herself for it, and she still struggled with just what she'd seen in his eyes that had halted her.

Was she that unwilling to end a life, or was it just something about Ari? He spoke like he knew her, like he could control her, and in a way, he almost had. What was it about her that made her weak to him? Would she fail again, if she had the chance to kill him?

She felt sick, uncertain of the answer to that. 

“Ari is here?”

“Yes,” the woman said at the same time as her husband said no. Kate frowned, still concerned by their interaction. “The NSA has confirmed that he's in the states. In the metro DC area, even. There is chatter involving—”

“Ellie,” the man broke in, touching her arm. “Stop it. Now. Do you really not understand the meaning of _treason?”_

“This is about stopping terrorism,” she disagreed. “That can't possibly be treason. This is saving my country, saving lives.”

“Ari is here,” Kate repeated. She forced herself to think this through. What was Gibbs' rule? Don't believe what you're told. Double check. Not that she wouldn't have, anyway, but she didn't need to take this woman's word and her husband's apparent refusal to talk as any kind of proof. “In DC. And you're telling me this... why? Is this some kind of trick?”

“No,” Ellie insisted. “I swear I'm not making this up—”

“It would be so much better for you if you were,” her husband said, and she flinched. “You can still walk away from this now. You should. Stop making it worse. You've warned her. End it. Don't take it far enough to where—”

“I thought you agreed with me,” she said, frowning. “You saw the same thing in the pattern that I did—he's going to turn if he hasn't already.”

Kate watched the man's face. He clearly didn't want to agree with his wife, but he couldn't deny it, either. That was all there plain as day. She wasn't sure if she should believe it, though. What if this was all some carefully fed lie? Kate didn't know why anyone would bother, but she couldn't rule it out, either.

“How do you know all of this? Who gave you my name?”

“The NSA did, technically,” Ellie answered. “I... I remember almost everything I read, and I read a lot because they wanted me to identify potential up and coming terrorists. I was given information on multiple organizations, including the Hamas. There was a report in there that linked to NCIS, and I dug deeper, eventually coming across the details of when Ari Haswari held you hostage. Twice. I recognized you in the coffee shop.”

Kate nodded. That could all be true. “And what exactly do you do for the NSA?”

“She used to be an analyst,” the husband said. “Not that she's going to have a job after this.”

“They deserve to know, and if Haswari has turned, he needs to be stopped before he hurts someone,” Ellie said, reaching for her husband's arm. “If you had known about the towers and—”

“Don't go there,” he warned her. “You justify your sense of right and wrong all you want, but what you're doing is illegal—and I can't help you. I won't. Internal affairs could be watching you right now, but you don't even care—”

“This isn't like the things we normally see coming across our desks,” Ellie reminded him. “Those are easy to keep silent about because they're on the other side of the world, but this is here. He's going to do something in the states. I know I filed a report, but that's not enough. This man has government support, and he shouldn't.”

“Maybe, but you can't keep breaking the rules like this,” he said. “It's like you have no comprehension of the consequences of your actions. Where has all your careful planning gone? And if you won't stop yourself for your own sake—”

“I am thinking of others. I wanted to warn the NCIS team. Now I have.”

“Somehow, I don't think this is the end of it,” he said, shaking his head as he walked away from her. She winced, lowering her head as she watched him go.

Kate reached out to touch the other woman's arm. “For what it's worth, thank you.”

* * *

“We have a problem.”

Gibbs leaned back in his chair. He knew that DiNozzo was still missing, but McGee had stepped up to the plate. He was proving to be a good agent, and they had wrapped up a case yesterday. They didn't have anything else yet.

“Problem?” Gibbs prompted, watching her.

“I just had an analyst from the NSA tell me that Ari is back in the states. In DC.”

Ari. That bastard. Gibbs still wanted to get him. He'd settle for putting him away for life, but then again, that wouldn't stop him. He'd find some way out of there, like he had before, and Gibbs refused to let him get away again. “You sure about that?”

“I'd never met her before today, and she didn't give me any proof,” Kate admitted, and Gibbs frowned. “I know. It's not much, but she didn't have to tell me. Her husband definitely didn't think she should have.”

Gibbs shook his head. “That's not proof. We need something we can use and a way to track the bastard.”

“I know,” Kate said. “Which is why I made note of her truck's plates so I could start confirming her story. We should at least be able to find out if she is employed by the NSA—and I suppose if she's married, too, since that would confirm at least part of her story.”

“Get McGee on it.”

Kate nodded, moving away. Gibbs rose from his desk, needing to think. It wasn't that he didn't believe that Ari could be in the states. He wouldn't be surprised if he was under the protection of another agency again, and he knew no one was going to admit to it.

The NSA had, though, if this wasn't some kind of trap or trick. Gibbs wasn't sure what the NSA would gain from telling his team about Haswari, but that didn't mean that the woman Kate spoke to was lying. Not everyone did things for personal gain or as a part of some great conspiracy.

Though, with DiNozzo still out and hovering near death, their team was a man short and at a severe disadvantage. They couldn't find Ari with another agency blocking them, and it wasn't like they hadn't tried. Gibbs had not given up on making Ari pay, and shooting him wasn't enough.

“Ah, Jethro,” Ducky said, coming up to him. “I was going to ask for a minor favor, but then I think perhaps my timing could not be more appropriate.”

“Bad time to ask for a favor.”

“That is not what I meant,” the older man said with a smile. “I think I arrived at an opportune moment as it is one where you are in some sort of quandary.”

Gibbs grunted. “Kate told me a source at the NSA says Ari's in country.”

“Here?”

“In DC.”

“Does this mean we can finally catch the bastard?” Ducky asked, sounding rather enthusiastic about that. “I'm sorry. I recently spoke with Gerald, and he reminded me of the consequences of Ari's actions. I suppose I should be grateful that he did not kill him, but still...”

Gibbs nodded. He felt the same. “If he's here, Duck, we're gonna get him.”

* * *

Jake stepped into the room, overwhelmed by the orange. He wasn't sure why anyone would paint their office that color, but he didn't have to know that. He just had to make it through this meeting without completely screwing himself over, which was no easy task. He wasn't sure if this assignment had been given to him because he already had and they knew about Ellie telling that woman about Haswari or not. Maybe they didn't. Maybe he'd just seemed rattled by their other problems. He didn't know. It was hard to say what his supervisor intended in sending him here.

He was still standing there when the silver haired man approached him. “You lost?”

“Um... Sorry. I was looking for Agent Gibbs?”

“Found him,” the other man said. “What do you want?”

“I'm with the NSA. We received a request from your office wanting information on a certain individual, and I am supposed to—”

“Feed me the party line and tell me it's need to know that I don't need to know?” Gibbs finished with a snort. “You didn't have to come here for that.”

Jake had tried and failed to argue that point as well. “I agree, but I lost that argument with my supervisor. He seemed to think that the answer had to be given in person, and I was the unlucky peon chosen for that task.”

Gibbs frowned. “Peon?”

Jake grimaced. “Perhaps that was the wrong word. At any rate, this is the information I was authorized to release to you.”

He tried to give Gibbs the drive, but the other man didn't take it. Shaking his head, Gibbs pointed to the device. “How much you want to bet that's stuff I already know?”

“I couldn't say. I don't know what you know or what is on this drive. I just know it's encrypted and meant for your eyes only,” Jake said, feeling stupid as he did. That man's stare should be patented as a weapon.

“Gibbs, McGee's still working on the other records, but I have a name on that—Jake,” the female agent said, stopping a few feet away from them. “It is Jake, isn't it?”

He wished it wasn't. Or that he'd married a woman with better impulse control. “It is.”

Gibbs exchanged a look with his agent. She nodded. “I was about to leave to follow up on the truck, but that can wait.”

Jake shook his head. “I am just here to give Agent Gibbs the information he requested.”

Gibbs snorted. “That isn't what I need, and you know it. That's some token offering meant to make it look like you're cooperating when you're not doing a damned thing.”

“This is the NSA's official position on the matter,” Jake told them both, “and that is not going to change.”

Gibbs eyed him suspiciously. “Official?”

“I am a lawyer,” Jake said, getting defensive. “And yes, it is. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to—”

“You're not going anywhere.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NCIS has a few questions for both parties involved in the Bishop/Malloy marriage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe I am coming down sick, which contributed to the delay here, but it's not the only reason. It was hard to get the part with Jake right. I rewrote it a few times.

* * *

“You know you can't hold me here,” the NSA agent protested. “I haven't done anything, and even if I had, your office would have no jurisdiction over it. My agency could pursue it as an internal matter or they could have an outside agency investigate, but that would still fall outside of your mandate.”

Gibbs snorted. If the man hadn't already said he was a lawyer, that would have proved it. Only lawyers messed with technicalities like that. “Maybe you didn't.”

“I didn't, so that is why you're going to—” 

“—but the NSA believes your wife has,” Kate said, and Gibbs looked over at her, wondering exactly what had been said in that conversation earlier. “You said it yourself—she is guilty of treason.”

That caused a bit of a panic, which was not too bad from the former secret service agent. Gibbs almost smiled.

“I did not actually say that Ellie was guilty of anything. I tried to discourage her from speaking to you ask that would further complicate an internal matter she is involved in, but I did not say she was. I asked her if she remembered the definition of the word 'treason,' which is not the same thing,” the lawyer insisted.

Gibbs shook his head. “If that were true, you wouldn't have panicked when Kate said the NSA wanted your wife for treason.”

“You also said that you weren't letting her throw away her oath again,” Kate said, a slight smile on her lips as she turned the lawyer's technicalities against him. “Meaning that she has done something like this before.”

“No, she didn't, but the exact circumstances of that are classified above your level,” the NSA agent snapped, frustration getting the better of him. “I don't have to discuss that with you, and I won't. I am leaving now. You have no reason to hold me.”

“Patriot act,” Gibbs reminded him. “Can hold you indefinitely.”

“If I was a suspect in an act of terror,” the NSA agent said. “I'm not.”

“You're protecting Ari Haswari. That makes you suspect in my book,” Gibbs told him. The other man glared back at him.

“I am _not_ protecting him. I don't have anything to—what I am doing is my job. I am maintaining the line between legal and illegal, classified and not. You don't have clearance for anything beyond what's on that drive. You can't build a case that I am obstructing you—I offered you the information you requested—minus the classified parts you're not allowed to see—we have cooperated. Just because you are not getting the answer you want does not mean you can trump up charges and try to hold me here. It would do you no good. I have nothing further to say.”

Gibbs didn't believe that. This man knew a lot more than what he'd said as a part of the 'official' NSA party line, and Gibbs needed to know what that was. If it meant finding and stopping Ari for good, he'd do it. He didn't care what the other agencies thought. Ari could not be trusted. He'd gone rogue—if he was ever truly working for Mossad in the first place.

“I think you do. We need to have a little chat about what your wife told my agent,” Gibbs said. “Or are you going to try and disavow your wife now?”

The other man looked at him. “I'm not sure I still have a wife to disavow, but that's not—I can't discuss anything that Ellie told you. I know that you think I should because you already know, but I can't add to it and if you think that you can use me as evidence against her, you're mistaken. Anything Ellie might have told me falls under spousal privilege.”

“You just said you weren't sure you had a wife to disavow—”

“Even if my marriage might be failing, privilege still exists as long as it does,” the lawyer said. “You may as well drop the empty threats and let me pass.”

“You could confirm a few things for us,” Kate said, and the agent started to shake his head again. She held up a hand. “At least that your wife is employed by the NSA as an analyst as she claimed.”

He didn't seem to want to do that. “Even if I were to say that Ellie is, in fact, an analyst, that doesn't change anything. I won't confirm or deny anything she said. I can't.” 

“Ari Haswari put a bullet into one of my people, threatened the lives of my team, and he got away with it because of our government,” Gibbs told him. “That seem right to you?”

“I sympathize with your position, but I can't help you,” the lawyer insisted. “I won't betray my agency, my country, or my wife. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to work.”

Gibbs figured if he had long enough, he could probably break this guy, get all the information he wanted, but that fight might not be worth it. The wife had already overstepped her bounds once. She might do it again. The only problem would be if the husband or the NSA blocked her before Gibbs had a chance to talk to her himself.

“About your wife—”

“Stay away from her,” the other man said. “And if you threaten her again, I will—”

“You still love her,” Kate said. “Doesn't it matter that she's doing what she thought was right? Do you disagree with her? No, she said you agreed with her assessment. If you thought that Ari was rogue like she does—”

“I took an oath. I won't betray that. I realize this case is personal for you, but that doesn't change what I know I have to do.”

Gibbs grunted. Much as he didn't want to, he could almost admire a person with that kind of loyalty, even if it was pissing him off. He made no move to stop him as he went for the elevator. He watched, waiting for the doors to close.

“You're letting him go?”

“Find the wife. Talk to her before someone else does.”

* * *

_“Do you know the fate this lovely young woman had planned for you tonight, Agent DiNozzo?” Ari asked with a smug grin, moving toward Tony. Ari put the gun against the back of Tony's head. “Something a lot like this.”_

_Tony pulled on his bonds. “Yeah, well, you know what Gibbs has planned for you?”_

_“Gibbs can't touch me. Your government—_ every _—government wants someone on the inside, and that makes me... untouchable. You, on the other hand, remain very expendable,” Ari said, and Tony heard the click as the safety came off. Another one and he'd be dead._

Tony jerked awake, starting to cough as soon as he did. He grimaced, trying to make his lungs calm down and catch his breath. He felt like he was dying again, and that he did not need. He also didn't need to be dreaming about that freak, Ari Haswari.

Wasn't that Gibbs' job? 

Or maybe Kate's. She'd said she hadn't been able to kill him because she saw something in his eyes. She would dream about him, wouldn't she? Had a bit of a crush and Stockholm syndrome going on there, didn't she?

Tony groaned, reaching for his medication. It was all this time off, too sick to do a damned thing. Even with his collection of movies, he was bored, and now his mind was taking that to weird places, like a terrorist.

He needed something to do. He was going crazy sitting here at home.

He started to get up, but then he ended up doubled over, coughing so hard he was either going to choke or puke. He sighed, laying back down. He wasn't going anywhere just yet. Maybe tomorrow, but not today. He picked up his remote and changed to another movie.

He saw the actor on screen and grimaced. Damn. Why was everything a reminder of that damned terrorist?

Okay, so he wasn't supposed to be a terrorist, but there was something about the guy. He was under Gibbs' skin, the man's own white whale, and that had to make him more than an undercover operative. Gibbs' gut wasn't often wrong.

Nothing Tony could do about it sitting here, though. He had to get better so he could get the hell out of here before he went completely stir crazy.

* * *

“Elanor Bishop?”

Ellie tensed, grimacing when she heard her name. She knew that it wouldn't have been all that difficult for NCIS to find her again, but she had hoped that it wouldn't happen for a while yet. She needed to talk to Jake again, try and make things right again. She'd almost had it back, his trust and their marriage, and then she'd seen that agent and thrown it away again.

She hadn't wanted to—she wasn't looking to be single again, she still loved Jake, and she hadn't done any of this because she wanted to hurt him. She needed to fix this. She had to make things right between the two of them again.

She turned to face Todd again, frowning at the sight of the other agent beside her. She didn't know who he was, and he seemed a little young to be an agent, though she could be stereotyping there.

“Agent Todd.”

“It's nice to actually meet you this time around,” the other woman said with a small smile. “This is Agent McGee.”

Ellie forced a smile. “I know why you came to see me, but I don't think there's anything else I can tell you.”

“That is pretty much what your husband told Gibbs,” Todd said. “If, in fact, he was your husband. I've been told that there is no Jake Bishop at the NSA.”

“Is that some kind of trick?” Ellie asked, confused. “You found me, which assumes you were able to pull up my records. You should have been able to find that information as well. Or did you not look past the registration for my truck?”

“I think it may have been a small test,” McGee said. “Though... I'm still not sure if that was for us or for you. You should have probably said that we couldn't get personnel records, not question whether or not we looked into your marriage license.”

Ellie grimaced. “I guess I did walk into that, but it doesn't mean I don't work for the NSA, that Jake doesn't, or that we're not married. All of those things are true.”

“And what you said about Ari?”

“Chatter has him in DC,” Ellie said. “You don't have to believe me, but Jake was right. I shouldn't have told you. And it's starting to look more and more like I did it for nothing because I... Well, I'm going to lose him, and it didn't help you any, did it?”

“Not yet,” Todd said, “but that's only because we haven't actually located him yet.”

Ellie winced. “I can't help with that. I don't know where he is, other than in the DC area. There's rumors of an Al-Qeada cell, but that's not enough, either. It's... I can't pinpoint it further than I already have. I'm sorry.”

“You could if you continue to monitor the situation,” McGee said, and she frowned.

“I can't do that. It's one thing to warn you that Ari is in town, but that would be—no. I shouldn't have done this, and I can't help you. Even if I thought I could, I... I can't,” Ellie said. “I... It's not just that I'd lose Jake, I will probably go to prison, and I... I took this job to help people. I got caught up in the big picture for a long time, and then came this thing with this man... It's not Ari Haswari, but that man... he made it personal, and that... It made me do what I did—Ari went after your team. More than once. That was... familiar, and it made me go against my oath and risk my marriage. I can't do anything else. I just... can't.”

Todd studied her. “This other man... is he still out there?”

Ellie nodded. Parsa was still free, and that was another reason why she'd told them about Ari. While she wasn't convinced that Parsa was after her personally—or Jake—she couldn't rest easy knowing that he was free. Like them with Ari.

“If you help us with Ari, we can help you with him.”

“The NSA is already working to capture him—”

“Is that really enough?” Todd asked, and Ellie found that was something that she could not answer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs and his team discuss options on how to find Ari. Jake and Ellie try to fix what's wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long. It was a hard chapter to get through, and I've been a little under the weather, which makes writing harder to do.
> 
> I'm a little unsure of this part, too, I admit it.

* * *

“Well?”

“Bishop said she didn't have information about Ari's current whereabouts,” Kate said, and Gibbs gave her a look. “I believe her. Just because there is chatter does not mean that she can be more specific than that. Not without a dedicated search, which she hasn't done. Even then, she might not have access to what she needs.”

Gibbs shook his head. “That is not good enough. We need a damned location on Ari. Now.”

“I agree, but we're not going to be able to get one without more information,” Kate said. Gibbs continued to glare at her. “Ari is working undercover for the Mossad—”

“That's what he claims he's doing. Doesn't make it real,” Gibbs said. She couldn't really argue that with him. While she'd seen kindness in Ari's eyes, his actions didn't fit with that. Yes, he'd kept her alive when he could have killed her, same with Gibbs, but somehow that didn't seem like a genuine agent and more like... a bored child toying with his prey.

“Yes, but how do we prove that he's not a double? Expose him to the Hamas and Al-Qeada? I don't know we could do that. I, at least, couldn't live with myself, not for wondering if I'd betrayed an innocent man—”

“Ari _is_ not innocent.”

“An agent who might just be able to get us close to Bin Laden and to ending this once and for all,” Kate corrected. Gibbs grunted. “I can see why other agencies would believe it was worth taking the risk on Ari. We'd need a lot more proof than your gut to make them believe otherwise.”

“Like chatter?”

Kate almost laughed. That wasn't enough. “I think I may have convinced Bishop to give us more, but we're going to have to wait. And... we'll have to find another terrorist.”

Gibbs frowned. “What do you mean, another terrorist? What terrorist?”

“I'm not sure of all the details, but it seems that Bishop may have been targeted by one. She didn't explain it, but I read between the lines enough to know that this guy got to her. It may be the reason her husband was so defensive—”

“You think she was helping a terrorist?”

“No. I don't think she's disloyal to her country or her husband, but it may be that she got too close to the analysis she was doing. If he learned who she was, he could have made some kind of threat or contact. In this climate, contact alone would put her under suspicion,” Kate said. “It... It's something we can use. I think she might be willing to help us with Ari—and why would you object to getting rid of another terrorist?”

“I don't. I just don't want another Ari on our hands, and if this woman is—”

“What does your gut say?”

Gibbs looked at her, and that was all the answer Kate needed.

* * *

Jake looked up at the knock on the door. He swallowed, hoping it wasn't his supervisor again—or, worse, IA—since he did not want to discuss what he had said at NCIS earlier. He still didn't know if that was a trick or not, if he'd been sent there as a trap and if that trap was for him or for Ellie or the agents at NCIS. He wasn't sure of anything right now.

Ellie leaned against the door frame, hesitant to enter the room. “Hi.”

He swallowed. He wasn't sure how to react to seeing her. Part of him wanted nothing more, the other part was still hurt and angry. He knew talking here would be a mistake, though. Things would be said that shouldn't be overheard.

“Hi.”

“Can we... try and talk again?” Ellie asked. “I... I would like to go back to where we were this morning.”

“I'm not sure that place exists anymore,” Jake told her. “I can't... if things realistically aren't ever going to change, what are we doing? It's not that I don't love you, but I'm... I'm getting to the point where I don't know if I can live with you. I hate thinking that. I hate that I ever had to feel that way.”

“And I hate that I made you feel that way,” she said. “Please, Jake. We can find a way to... talk, at least. We... said forever. That matters, doesn't it?”

“Does it? Because sometimes, with the things you do... I'm not sure.”

She winced. “Jake...”

He supposed that seemed harsh, but he didn't know how not to feel it. He loved her, but he'd never been the most confident man in the world. Ellie had come into his life like a force of nature, and he hadn't gotten over it. He hadn't wanted to, and he'd actually thought that maybe he would have a chance at holding onto her. He was wrong about that, though, and he hadn't realized it would hurt this much. He knew she was offering to fix it, but if they did, would they be back here in this place again in days, months, a year? Or would it take less than an hour, as it had this morning?

She took a step into his office. She stopped, shutting the door behind her. “Please. I... I know this morning was—We were talking about Parsa, and I know I said that he wouldn't come back to the apartment now that the NSA knew about it, but you're right about him still being out there. He is. He's free. He can commit acts of terror, and he could harass us again. Ari Haswari did that to the NCIS team. He may have the same fascination with Kate that Parsa seems to have with me. I... I just... It was similar, and I didn't want them going through what we were. I'm sorry.”

Jake shook his head. “We shouldn't be talking here.”

“I know, but if I didn't risk saying it here, I'm not so sure I would be able to say it later,” Ellie admitted, and he winced at that. He was acting too defensively, trying to withdraw and protect himself, and that wasn't the right way to save their marriage. “Can we—”

“We can finish this later,” he said, rising from his desk. “I promise we will. After work, we'll... we'll find a place to have a real discussion. Not the apartment, that's being watched, but we'll find somewhere that isn't.”

She crossed toward him, reaching up to put her hands on his face. “I do love you. That hasn't changed. I know that it might not seem like it when I turned around five minutes after fixing things with you and seemed to be throwing it all away, but I wasn't. I don't want to lose you.”

He leaned his head against hers. “And I don't want to lose you.”

“We... still have to talk.”

Jake's stomach twisted up into an unpleasant knot. He had a really bad feeling about that conversation. He looked at his desk, considered the paperwork that he should be doing, and shook his head. “Let's go ahead and go now.”

“Don't you have a lot of work—”

“Yes, but somehow I'm not sure either of us is going to have a job after what you have to tell me, so I think we should just go now.”

* * *

“Boss, I was thinking about the Ari situation, and I think I have a suggestion,” McGee began, and Gibbs frowned, eying the young agent with suspicion. McGee had helped before, proved himself enough to earn a place on the team, but this was Ari. This was a damned white whale, and while Gibbs wanted the bastard caught, he was leery of anyone suggesting that they had a magic answer to that problem.

“And?”

“And while Kate thinks that we can wait for Bishop to dig up something up at the NSA, I think we might actually be able to speed things up,” McGee said. Gibbs gave him a look. He was drawing this out too much.

“Get to the point, McGee.”

“Ari came to NCIS because he had to get a body and the evidence of the failed biological attack,” McGee said, and Gibbs glared at him. That was not the point, and McGee knew it. “And then when he took Kate, he did it because he was trying to organize a strike on Marine One. He claimed it was a faked attempt, one meant to legitimize him in the eyes of Al-Qeada.”

“The point. Now.”

“If Ari actually is here for an Al-Qeada operation, we might be able to trap him. It may still require us to use Bishop and her NSA access, but we could actually create chatter, make Ari think that one of his team has been compromised, and once he did, they'd fall back on some kind of emergency protocol. They'd have to contact each other to make sure the operation was still good.”

“Or they'd abandon it and leave the country again.”

McGee grimaced. “Admittedly, that is a possibility, but we can be watching for that, too. It's just a suggestion. We don't have to do it right away, but then again...”

“What?”

“Has anyone heard from Tony lately?” McGee asked with a wince. “If Ari is back in town, and he is maybe after us again, why not go after Tony? He's in a weakened state, vulnerable, home alone...”

“Call him on the way,” Gibbs ordered, grabbing his gun. “And don't stop calling until you get a hold of him.”

* * *

“Somehow, I don't think that's a work call,” Jake commented as they walked toward his car. Ellie had already decided to let him drive, since he somehow managed to stay calm enough to drive responsibly regardless of the situation whereas she did not.

She looked up from her phone, wincing again. “It was Agent Todd.”

Jake shook his head. “I knew it. I knew that you wanting to talk mean that—”

“They want my help, but I didn't say I was giving it to them,” Ellie told him, though she couldn't lie about it, either. “Though, that is why I wanted to talk. I wanted to tell you about meeting with them.”

Jake muttered something under his breath as he hurried toward his car. She went after him, knowing this didn't seem good, not for the second time in one day. She'd started to fix things, and then it looked like she was going against everything she'd said. Again.

Only this time it wasn't.

She really had gone to his office to tell him all of this, to make things right, and she wasn't lying about any of that. Maybe she shouldn't have listened to him about leaving the NSA before finishing their conversation, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

She got in on the passenger side, sitting down. Jake got behind the wheel.

“I feel like we should be scanning the car for listening devices or something,” Ellie said, trying to make a small joke of it. “Sorry. Again. I swear I was about to tell you.”

Jake nodded, starting the car. “I know. I'm... I'm trying not to... overreact.”

He pulled out of the lot and headed into traffic. She watched the cars in front of them, not wanting to say anything just yet. She didn't know what to say. She just kept making it worse.

Though... there was still one thing that might help.

“I love you.”

Jake shook his head. “That is not fair.”

She couldn't help the smile. It worked. “So... despite that put upon tone and the way I've really broken things without meaning to, you still love me?”

“Yes.”

“That is very touching,” a third voice said, and Ellie tensed. She looked at the backseat, staring at the gun that was now next to Jake's head. “I assume that since you two care so deeply about each other, you'll be willing to do as I say.”

Jake swallowed, his hands white on the wheel. Ellie shook her head. This shouldn't be happening. Couldn't be.

“Why are you doing this? How did you get into the NSA's parking lot? It's a secure lot and—”

“Those questions can wait,” Ari Haswari said, giving her a smile. “I want to know what NCIS' interest in you is. You _and_ your husband. You see, I have a bit of a need to know what goes on with Agent Gibbs and his team, and I find it very curious that not only did you receive a visit from Agent Todd, but your husband was at NCIS today.”

“You were?”

Jake nodded, just one quick jerk of his head. “I... I had to answer a request for information. Standard stuff. I do it all the time.”

“In person?” Haswari snorted. “I think not. Tell me what you were really doing, or I will put a bullet in your head. At this distance, there is not even a remote chance you'll survive.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs and McGee check on Tony, and Kate gets a phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else ever do that thing where they start writing a story and get a little into it, and find yourself questioning the fact that you started it? I know I have, several times, but I'm lying here, trying not to cough up a lung, and I keep going, "You know you can't write Kate, why did you think you could do this? And everyone is going to hate Jake and that wasn't the intention, he was supposed to give Gibbs some important information sooner and how will you explain any of the rest of this?"
> 
> I keep thinking I must be doing something wrong with my stories somewhere, and if I am, I guess I should apologize for that.

* * *

“Gibbs?”

Tony frowned, looking at his boss in confusion. He didn't know what Gibbs was doing at his door, not unless this was some kind of nightmare. He had been sick, downed a bottle of cold medicine, and woke up to this.

If he was even awake.

“Good to see you're not dead,” Gibbs said, stepping into the apartment. Tony frowned, watching him as he moved around. McGee followed after him, and Tony shut the door, leaning against it. He closed his eyes, breathing in and out a few times.

“It is, Tony,” McGee told him, and Tony cracked an eye open a little, peering at him. “Well, we were a little worried we were going to find that Ari had already been here and that you would be... um... dead.”

“Nice to know that you care,” Tony said, though if they hadn't suspected Ari was involved, they probably wouldn't be here. “Wait... why did you think it was Ari? Are we talking about the same Ari? Terrorist pretending to be a Mossad agent? That Ari?”

“Yeah, that Ari,” McGee agreed. He took Tony's arm. “Come over here and sit down before you fall down, okay?”

Tony did, wondering if Gibbs was in his bathroom or his bedroom and figuring neither one of them was a good idea. The whole place was a mess. He was sick, but he didn't think anyone would believe that or that it wasn't always like this. They'd think that he always lived in a pigsty.

And sometimes that was true, but this was different. He had extenuating circumstances.

“So... Ari?”

“Kate got a tip from an NSA analyst,” McGee told him. “She told her that Ari was back in the states. There were also rumors of an Al-Qaeda cell in the DC area.”

Tony tried to take that in. “So, he's back and he's here, and he's... what? Coming after us again? Why would he do that?”

“Maybe because Gibbs shot him?” McGee suggested. Tony gave him a look. It wasn't like he didn't know that. He remembered that very well. Still, if Ari was smart, he'd stay far away from Gibbs. “We could be wrong about it, but when it comes to Ari—”

“Better not to take chances,” Tony agreed. He frowned. “Gibbs has been back there too long. I'd make a joke about him falling in, but I'm actually starting to get worried that he found something back there.”

“You think he did?”

“McGee, I've been dead to the world for days. Cold medication that knocks you out like boom,” Tony said with a smile. He liked that stuff, but he couldn't take it all the time and was stuck in hellish boredom during the hours when he wasn't out cold. “Ari could have been here, and I wouldn't have known. I was out of it.”

“That is so not something you want to admit,” McGee said, and Tony couldn't argue that. “I think I better see if Gibbs found something to prove that Ari was here.”

“Okay, you do that. Hey, where's Kate?”

“Still at NCIS. Why?”

Tony shrugged. “No reason. Just feeling the love, that's all.”

* * *

Jake tried to keep himself calm despite the gun next to his head. He was terrified, but he knew that he couldn't give into that. If he did, he'd crash the car and kill all of them, and he couldn't do that, even if part of his brain was telling him that he should do it on the off chance that it might actually free them from this psychopath.

The other part was caught between wondering if this was because of what Ellie had done, going to NCIS like she did, or if it would always have ended like this. Would he always have come after them, or was it just because Ellie had it in her head that Haswari had to be stopped?

Then again, with the gun next to his head, it was hard not to think that she was wrong about that. This man was going to kill them. It didn't matter what Jake told him.

They would not survive this.

“I told you already,” Jake said. “I was there to give NCIS information they requested. The request was made by Agent Gibbs, and he's known to be difficult to work with, so my supervisor sent me in person. I gave Gibbs the sanctioned information and returned to the NSA. That's all.”

“Is it, though?” Haswari asked, nudging his ear with the gun and making Jake sick. “You would not be lying to me, would you?”

“No,” Jake said, not sure what else to do but buy time. If he could turn onto a side street or find somewhere else that they could possibly get help. Haswari had gotten onto a secured lot. Was there anywhere safe? “It... I couldn't give him any more information than what was on the drive, even though he pressed me for it.”

“And who was this information about, then?”

“Ari Haswari.”

That made the maniac in the backseat laugh. Jake felt sure that the gun was about to go off, that it would all be over. Haswari would kill him, and after he died, so would Ellie. Jake didn't want that to happen, but he didn't know how to stop it. He was a lawyer, not a hero.

“So, Gibbs is looking for me again. I wonder why that is.”

Jake knew he couldn't give Haswari the real answer to that. “I have no idea. He didn't even want to take the drive. He insisted that it was all full of what he already knew. Maybe it was. I know it was only what he had access to given his clearance level, but he wanted more.”

“You make me curious,” Haswari said. “What kind of clearance do you have?”

“Don't you already know?” Jake asked. “I... I would think you did, since you came after me. Us. You wouldn't do that without more than a name, without time to plan—not when we work in such a secure facility—”

“Oh, that part was not difficult. I merely had to as Benham for some information.”

“You know Parsa?” Ellie asked, choking on the name. Jake was struggling with that himself. He knew that Haswari could possibly have connections to Russia, but to Parsa? Why? How? It wasn't like all terrorists were connected. These two shouldn't be. “No. You can't. He's not Hamas. He's not even Al Qaeda. There's no connection. There can't be.”

“And you know so much more than you're saying,” Haswari said. “Perhaps I should be talking to you, my dear.”

* * *

Kate left the elevator, heading across the hall to the Abby's lab. She wasn't really sure what they were going to be able to do, not when they had little choice but to wait. They needed something from Bishop or another way to find Ari, to prove that he was in the states.

That or they would need a new case.

She checked her phone. No answer to the text she'd sent Bishop, and she was hoping that she would have gotten a response by now. She wanted to know if Bishop was going to help them or not, and they couldn't really afford to wait if she wasn't.

“Kate,” Abby said, turning back with a smile. “What's up? I didn't think we had a case at the moment. Do we have one and I just didn't know? How weird is that, right?”

“Well, not that weird because you don't normally come out to the crime scenes and we bring the evidence to you,” Kate said, and Abby nodded. “Actually, I figured I'd pick your brain a little while we were waiting for word.”

“Okay, shoot,” Abby said, still smiling. “What can I do for you?”

“Help me figure out how we can be sure Ari is in the states,” Kate said, and Abby stared at her. She was about to explain when her phone rang. She frowned, checking the caller id. Bishop? Good. Kate answered the call. “Hello?”

For a moment, all Kate got was silence, and she figured that the call must have been made by mistake. Then she heard a voice.

“I told you already. I was there to give NCIS information they requested. The request was made by Agent Gibbs, and he's known to be difficult to work with, so my supervisor sent me in person,” a man said, and Kate frowned. Abby started to ask her about it, but Kate held up her hand. She put the call on speaker and set it on the counter. “I gave Gibbs the sanctioned information and returned to the NSA. That's all.”

“Is it, though?” Ari asked, and Abby swallowed. Kate nudged her, pointing her to the computer. She nodded, calling up a trace program. “You would not be lying to me, would you?”

“No,” Jake said. “It... I couldn't give him any more information than what was on the drive, even though he pressed me for it.”

“And who was this information about, then?”

“Ari Haswari.”

Kate wasn't surprised to hear Jake admit it. He was a lawyer, and against Gibbs he might have held his own, but that was not the same as a known terrorist who almost certainly had a gun or some other weapon on him.

Ari laughed, finding that funny and making Kate feel sick. She knew he would kill both of them. He didn't care anything about their lives, about anyone's. “So, Gibbs is looking for me again. I wonder why that is.”

“I have no idea,” Jake told him. “He didn't even want to take the drive. He insisted that it was all full of what he already knew. Maybe it was. I know it was only what he had access to given his clearance level, but he wanted more.”

“You make me curious,” Ari said. “What kind of clearance do you have?”

“Don't you already know?” Jake asked. “I... I would think you did, since you came after me. Us. You wouldn't do that without more than a name, without time to plan—not when we work in such a secure facility—”

“Oh, that part was not difficult. I merely had to as Benham for some information.”

“You know Parsa?” Bishop asked, and it sounded like she was afraid, maybe. “No. You can't. He's not Hamas. He's not even Al Qaeda. There's no connection.”

“And you know so much more than you're saying,” Haswari said. “Perhaps I should be talking to you, my dear.”

Abby grabbed Kate's arm and pointed to the desk phone. Kate nodded, but she walked over toward Abby's office instead of using the one right there, not wanting anyone on the other end to hear them. They had to keep that call going while the trace was running, and they needed to know if anyone got hurt.

She picked up the phone, dialing Gibbs' number. She waited, tapping her foot and wrapping the cord around herself as she looked back at Abby. Judging from the other woman's frown, the call was still going, and it might even be getting worse.

“Gibbs.”

Relieved to hear his voice, Kate quickly reported what she knew, hating how little that actually was. “Ari has Bishop and her husband.”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“Bishop called me, but she wasn't talking. Her husband was, and then came Ari's voice. He's with them now. Abby's running a trace on the phone now,” Kate told him. “How is Tony?”

“Alive. Ari may have been here, but he left him alive. Might just have wanted us to know that he could get to us. We got anything on Bishop or her husband yet?”

“No. Jake was doing his best to stall for time and keep them both alive, but Ari may be about to learn that Bishop came to us about him—it would seem he knows the other terrorist. Gibbs, this could be much worse than we thought.”

“Get me a location. Now, damn it.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abby and Kate get some leads, but not quite in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize again. I have been battling being sick, a horrible work schedule, and writer's block, and I was starting to fear I'd never get back to this. Then I had a breakthrough only to have work really mess me up and make me more sick than I already was. Still, I have something. Finally.

* * *

“Kate,” Abby called as Kate came back into the lab. She was still cringing from her conversation with Gibbs. Somehow she always came away from them feeling inadequate somehow. Well, unless she was in competition with Tony. Then she usually felt victorious. “Kate, quick, I think I found our terrorist.”

“Abby,” Kate hissed, looking over at the speaker phone. “Keep it down. If Ari hears you, it'll be all over, and even if you have a location, it won't be soon enough because Gibbs isn't there yet.”

“Relax, Kate. I muted your end of the call,” Abby told her, and Kate almost winced, thinking that was the first thing they should have done, and then she wouldn't have had to go into the office to call Gibbs. “No, while you were gone, Ari mentioned a name, and it kind of freaked Bishop out a little, from what I could tell. So I figured this Benham guy was the other terrorist you thought had her spooked. She called him Parsa. Running a search on Benham Parsa got me... this.”

Kate looked at the screen. “That is a picture of a boat.”

“Not just any boat,” Abby disagreed. “This is a cargo ship that was sabotaged as an act of terrorism. One would think that it wouldn't be that big a deal because cargo ship, not mass casualties, but then there's—”

_“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,”_ Kate said. “There's still a crew on board the ship. In the case of the ship in the song—twenty-nine crew members lost their lives.”

“Exactly. Fifteen people died, and among the cargo was disaster relief headed to India,” Abby said, shaking her head. “Supposedly, that was his work alone.”

“So he's a lone terrorist?”

“Well, he might have been, but since Ari knows him, I'm betting he's not working alone anymore. And that is where it gets a little... creepy. Okay, a lot creepy because—”

“I see. Then let us discuss Benham, shall we?” Ari asked, his voice getting louder over the speaker, and Kate hoped he was still unaware that he had an audience. “He seems far more interesting than your pathetic knowledge of my background.”

“Benham Parsa was born and raised in Mingora, Pakistan,” Bishop answered. “He had a normal life until his parents were killed in a drone strike. He became angry at the world. He started carrying out terrorist acts on his own, bombing a passenger train and sabotaging a cargo ship. Chatter has him cultivating an organization of his own, the Brotherhood of Doubt.”

“Oh, damn,” Kate said, and Abby nodded.

“This is bad. Really bad. If he has an organization and it links up with Ari's, or even if it doesn't, it's still bad,” Abby said, her fingers flying over the keyboard. “I can't get their location pinned down. They're on the move, and the cell towers aren't close enough—Maybe if I reconfigured the algorithm...”

Kate nodded, wishing there was more she could do to actually help, but at the moment, she was waiting for a location as well. Even knowing what she did about Parsa wasn't enough. Maybe that would come from Bishop and her husband, if they were able to keep them alive and on the line.

“Benham only cares about one person,” Bishop said. “His sister, Hayat.”

“Oh, but you left someone out, my dear. You.”

“No,” Bishop protested, a bit too quickly in Kate's opinion. “Benham doesn't care about me. He barely keeps ties with his sister. She may be his only family, but he has—”

“A special affection for you,” Ari insisted. “As I, perhaps, might say I have for a certain agent from NCIS.”

“I'm going to be sick,” Kate said, shuddering. “If I thought I could use that against him, I would, but I can't. He'd never fall for it. And it wouldn't prove anything.”

“We are so not using you as bait,” Abby said, looking worried. “I had this dream, and I don't—no. It can't happen, okay? We are not doing that. If I can get the right fix on the cell, we'll catch him, and that will be the end of it. This time he won't get away—he can't. Not when he held people hostage.”

“He did that before.”

“Right. I... He did. He took you. Still, that can't happen twice. This isn't one agent he spared to make a plan work—he took two people from the NSA with high level clearance, and I know he could maybe make a cover, but that can't happen. I have a recording of the entire call. He's not getting away with it this time.”

“Wait,” Kate said, holding up a hand. “Ari just told him to take the freeway.”

“I can use that. The cell just pinged off this tower, which means that they must be about to get on the interstate, here, and I can notify emergency personnel with one little click.”

“I'll call Gibbs again.”

* * *

“Tell me what you know,” Haswari said, and Jake forced himself not to look over at Ellie. He had to keep his eyes on the road, and if he turned his head, he probably wouldn't have one. He just hoped she wouldn't make Haswari angry.

She was kind of good at making people angry.

“About you or about Benham?” Ellie asked, and Haswari laughed. Jake never wanted to hear that laugh again.

“So you think you know who I am,” Haswari said. “Is that so? And who am I?”

“You're Ari Haswari,” Ellie said. “You're the leader of a Hamas cell with ties to Al Qaeda.”

“Is that all?” Haswari asked, sounding amused. “Well, now, perhaps I have given you too much credit. A shame, really. I had thought that you might know something far more interesting than that.”

“The fact that you're a terrorist doesn't make you interesting?” Jake asked, not sure where that came from. He was not usually that bold or that stupid.

“Hardly,” Haswari told him. “Terrorists are a dime a dozen these days. I would have thought with NSA clearance you'd have something better than that. Perhaps you need more persuasion, Ms. Bishop. Should I give it to you?”

“Your father was Isreali. Your mother was Pakistani. You were educated in England.”

“Better, though hardly worthy of the NSA. Please tell me your government can do better than this.” Haswari nudged Jake with the gun. “Or is that a question for you?”

“Information at the NSA is compartmentalized,” Jake said. “Just because she does analysis and I work in the legal department does not mean either of us have access to everything. If there is something you think the NSA knows that you're afraid of... You'd probably have to ask someone above both of our heads.”

“I see. Then let us discuss Benham, shall we? He seems far more interesting than your pathetic knowledge of my background.”

“Benham Parsa was born and raised in Mingora, Pakistan. He had a normal life until his parents were killed in a drone strike. He became angry at the world. He started carrying out terrorist acts on his own, bombing a passenger train and sabotaging a cargo ship. Chatter has him cultivating an organization of his own, the Brotherhood of Doubt.”

“Ambitious,” Haswari said. “Yet you wonder why I would make his acquaintance?”

“He wouldn't want to be recruited by you,” Ellie said. “He rejected all the major terrorist groups. He is not interested in taking orders from anyone. He wants to give them.”

“Again, a man after my own heart.”

Jake didn't bother saying anything to that. The two of them were both twisted, both psychopaths. He knew that Haswari was supposed to be an agent, but he didn't believe that. Ellie didn't, either. That was the reason they were in this mess.

Haswari nudged Jake with the gun. “Come now, Elanor—such a lovely name, by the way—you can do better than that. Tell me more about Benham. Something... personal.”

“Benham only cares about one person,” Ellie said. “His sister, Hayat.”

“Oh, but you left someone out, my dear. You.”

Ellie frowned. “No. Benham doesn't care about me. He barely keeps ties with his sister. She may be his only family, but he has—”

“A special affection for you,” Haswari insisted. “As I, perhaps, might say I have for a certain agent from NCIS.”

“I knew it,” Jake muttered, and the terrorist laughed again, making him cringe.

“See? Your husband agrees with me.”

“Parsa breaking into our house was a part of his game. He was taunting me. I couldn't find him, but he could find me. That was the message he was sending. It wasn't anything else.”

“Is that what you believe, Jakob?”

“No.”

“Then we agree on that much.”

“That would be the only thing we agree on,” Jake told him. “I don't approve of your cause or your methods.”

“Whereas I find a great admiration for your captialism and your other indulgences. This car, for instance. Very nice, as is your suit. I should give a speech telling you just how terrible these things are, how they exploit others, but I—”

“Have me entirely wrong,” Jake said. “I didn't exploit anyone for any of this.”

“You think inheriting it excuses its greed?”

“If you actually did research Jake, you'd know that besides the trust his maternal grandmother established for him that paid for his college,” Ellie said, defending him. “Nothing else. What Jake has now, he earned.”

“Your loyalty to each other is almost admirable. Now, take the freeway,” Haswari ordered, and Jake nodded, preparing to get onto the interstate. 

They were still a few lights from the on-ramp, and he had to get into the other lane if they were going to turn off this street. He didn't know if it was a good or a bad sign, Haswari wanting them out of city traffic. On the one hand, at this time of day, there would be less cars around if something did go wrong, and maybe it made sense to get way from all the cameras and anyone who might see Haswari threatening them, but wasn't it more of a risk, too, going onto a highway?

Then again, the minute they were out of the city, they were dead. Jake was almost certain of that. He didn't know that there was much of a way of avoiding it at this point.

He swallowed, turning on his blinker and getting into the other lane. “Ellie, I know that it might not have seemed like it lately, but I do trust your instincts. I always have.”

“Cute,” Haswari said. “Exactly what prompts this new reconciliation?”

Jake ignored him, turning onto the on-ramp. He drove toward the traffic on the highway. “I agree with them, even when they're crazy and when I shouldn't and I'm beyond angry with you.”

“I know you do, which is half the reason I ignore it when you are angry,” Ellie said. “Wait, Jake, what—”

“I love you,” he told her, knowing that this was more insane than any of her ideas had ever been. He pressed his foot down on the accelerator, speeding up and sending the car toward a passing semi.

He heard Ellie calling his name as his side of the car slammed into the truck. Glass shattered, pain overwhelmed him, and everything went dark.

* * *

“You really think Ari would be stupid enough to come back for me?” DiNozzo asked for the backseat. “Didn't Kate say that he took hostages? Some... agent or other?”

“An NSA analyst,” McGee corrected. “And her husband.”

“He's NSA, too, though, right?” DiNozzo asked, and Gibbs nodded, pleased that the other man had as much of a grasp of the situation as he did even if he looked half-dead and should be back in bed. Gibbs would put him there himself as soon as they had Ari. They just had to find the damn car that Bishop and her husband were in. He had started driving toward the NSA as soon as he heard that Ari had Bishop and her husband, but that wasn't good enough. They had a headstart, and he needed a way to close the gap. Fast.

Gibbs' phone rang, and he answered it, ignoring the look of fear on McGee's face and the overdramatic moan from DiNozzo in the backseat.

“Location, Kate. Unless you have one of those for me, I don't want to hear it,” Gibbs warned her. They didn't have time to chat, and nothing took priority over finding that bastard Ari.

“Abby sent it to you and McGee as a text, and she's already notified other emergency services in the area,” Kate said. “And we have some information on the second terrorist, the one that targeted Bishop. We know his name and his affiliations and—oh, no.”

“Boss, this says they're on—”

“Gibbs, I think Jake just crashed their car.”

“The hell?” Gibbs demanded, and McGee started to speak again, but Gibbs held up a hand. “What do you mean, he crashed the car?”

“She means there was a loud crash and shattered glass and the line went dead,” Abby said. “I lost the signal from the phone. It's just... gone. It may have been destroyed in the wreck.”

“Damn it,” Gibbs said, taking the turn that would get him to the interstate. DiNozzo let out another groan, and McGee gripped the armrest like his life depended on it. “Why the hell would he do that?”

“I think he may have thought it was the only way to stop Ari,” Kate answered. “And if Ari was taking them out of town, then he was probably planning on killing them.”

“We don't know that they're dead yet,” Abby said. “Though... I think I'll start checking recent nine-one-one calls. Onlookers should have called it in by now.”

Gibbs ended the call as he drove onto the on-ramp, where traffic was already backed up. If that car had crashed, it wasn't far from where they were now. Now they just needed to get through the idiots blocking the way even with the siren and flashing lights.

He honked his horn as he drove past the cars, not sure why it took that to get them to move over, passing others on the shoulder to get up past them to where the semi truck was stalled out in the middle of the road.

“Wow,” DiNozzo said. “Boss, I'm not so sure anyone survived that.”

“I kind of agree with Tony,” McGee said. Gibbs ignored them both as he pulled up as close to the convertible as he could. The top had been partially ripped back, but the passenger side of the car was intact, hardly seemed damaged at all. The trunk was almost gone, and the driver's side had stopped just short of going underneath the semi.

Gibbs parked and got out, running over to the convertible. He stopped at the open passenger door. Though there was plenty of blood on the seat, it was empty and pushed forward.

Only one person was left in the car. The driver.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel terrible that I haven't been able to update as often as I used to. Between work and being sick and a lot of writer's block, I haven't made much progress on this. Even this new chapter... I feel like it's not enough, but I wanted to do something, at least. I think it might actually get to the one part I was meaning to do next chapter... if I can ever write that.

* * *

Ellie lifted her head from the dash, putting a hand to it as she tried to understand what had just happened. She had been stalling for time, giving NCIS time to find them, and she'd thought that was what Jake was doing, but then he'd started apologizing—and that shouldn't have been a warning sign, but it was. She'd known, half-a-second before impact, what he was going to do.

She couldn't stop it. She knew Jake was doing what he thought he had to do, but if he'd known about the call, maybe he wouldn't have. Maybe he would have waited.

Something cold touched her head, and she stilled, choking a little.

“Get out of the car now, Elanor,” Haswari said, and she nodded, trembling as she reached for the door handle. She pulled it back, opening it.

She stumbled out, almost falling on the pavement. Her stomach rolled, and she gagged. She looked back to see Haswari emerging, the gun still pointed at her. He looked worse than she felt, but she didn't think that she could get to him, couldn't move. She wanted to collapse on the ground, not sure how to stay on her feet.

“Start walking,” Haswari ordered. Ellie couldn't stop her body from trembling, and she knew she'd puke if she moved, but she tried anyway, forcing a foot forward. If Jake was alive, then maybe she would be saving him like he'd tried to save her. If she led Haswari away from the car, then Jake might have a chance.

If they stayed and Haswari had a chance to see that Jake was alive—oh, why hadn't she checked? That should have been the first thing she did, not obsessing over his decision but making sure he'd survived it. She hadn't even looked at him. Maybe she'd been too scared to, too afraid to lose everything.

This way she still had some hope.

She needed hope. Facts would be better, in some ways, but hope was going to have to be enough. She would hold onto that until she got away from Haswari... or died.

“Now, now,” he said, and she almost jumped when she heard how close he was to her. “You're slowing down, and we can't have that. I'm afraid we can't afford to be here when help arrives.”

“You need medical attention. So do I.”

“That is true, but I can hardly let Gibbs find me at such a disadvantage. Besides, I have a friend who would very much like to meet you.”

“What?” Ellie asked, stopping. Her vision was blurry, and she almost fell now that she wasn't moving. She almost regretted it, since she already knew who Haswari meant, who it had to be. He was taking her to Parsa. For some reason, the two of them had started working together. She didn't understand. Haswari was a supposed double agent, though she thought this proved that he wasn't working for any of their allies. Benham was not the same, and he'd resisted other attempts at recruitment. Still, the idea of them teaming up... that was horrifying.

Almost as bad as knowing that Jake had sacrificed himself to stop Haswari—and it hadn't worked.

“My dear Elanor,” Haswari paused like he was out of breath, but his words kept coming, still as smug as ever as he prodded her, forcing her to move again. “Surely you didn't think that I got in your husband's car without some kind of plan to get out of it, did you?”

Ellie supposed he wouldn't have, but that didn't stop her from wanting him to have overlooked that and assumed that he could force them to take him wherever he wanted them to go. Though... in retrospect, Jake's actions were almost predictable—it was the only thing he could do to try and change their fate.

“Here we are,” Haswari said, and Ellie frowned as she neared the car. All she saw in front of her was a blob of white, but then something took hold of her arm, dragging her over to the rear door. 

He shoved her in and slammed the door shut behind her.

* * *

“Not sure if we should call this brave or just stupid,” Tony commented before he started coughing, and Tim had to pull him back away from the wrecked convertible. He helped him sit in their car again, hoping this time he'd stay there. They could not afford to have him getting sick again. He might really die if he did.

“Stay put.”

“Well, what would you say?” Tony asked, clearing his throat. “Brave or stupid?”

“A bit of both,” Tim said. “Brave because he risked his life to stop Ari, but stupid because he couldn't control it and because... it didn't work. Ari's gone. Bishop's gone.”

“And how did that happen?”

Tim grimaced. Admittedly, they shouldn't have been able to get far. Forensics was going to prove that not all of the blood in the convertible was the driver's, and if Ari was in the backseat on the driver's side, he should have taken a bad hit, just like Malloy. Even Bishop got injured in the crash, Tim was almost certain of that.

“Pictures, McGee,” Gibbs ordered, and he nodded, grabbing his camera and heading back to the wreck. He started taking photographs of the car from every angle, making sure he didn't miss a detail. They never knew what might help, though a lot of it would probably depend on what trace might come from the backseat, if that was where Ari had been sitting and what, if anything, Malloy might be able to tell them, assuming he made it to the hospital.

Tim was still pretty impressed that Malloy was alive at all, considering how he'd hit that truck. He'd thought for sure when they got there that the guy had to be dead, but then Gibbs walked over and put his hands to Malloy's neck.

Tim had never seen so many people go for their cellphones so fast. As soon as Gibbs asked, they were all on their phone calling for an ambulance—which, you know, should have been done as soon as they found the wreck and knowing Abby she'd done before they got to the wreck.

Still, it might not be enough. The convertible had taken a pretty bad hit, and it wasn't really meant to survive an accident like that anyway.

“Boss, if Ari isn't in the car—”

“Must have had someone near by to pick him up,” Gibbs said, and Tim frowned. Why were they assuming that? That wasn't the only option, and Gibbs, of all people, knew that.

“He could have hijacked someone else.”

“You think these people would be standing around gawking at the supposed dead guy if the guy in the backseat pulled his gun on someone else?” Gibbs asked, and Tim shrugged. They might be gawking if they saw a kidnapping, too, though maybe someone had gotten something on a cellphone. “Think about it, McGee. The bastard's been two steps ahead of us the entire time. Ari had a failsafe in case Malloy or his wife got heroic. He used it.”

Tim grimaced. He didn't want to believe that Ari had been able to outmaneuver them like that, but he couldn't deny it was possible. Ari obviously knew about Bishop, or he would never have gone after her. And it would be like Ari to have had a that plan before he went after them. Tim just didn't like knowing that the guy won. Again.

“See if anyone got anything on those damned phones of theirs,” Gibbs ordered, and Tim nodded, turning back to the crowd.

* * *

“Any word yet?”

Kate shook her head. Bishop's husband was still in surgery, and she hadn't seen any of his doctors or nurses in hours. She knew they were all busy, but she would like to know something of his condition. She didn't want to leave without word. She felt like she owed Bishop—the woman had stuck her neck out for them, warning them about Ari like she had—and now her husband might die. She'd been kidnapped by terrorists.

Kate wanted to find her, but she also had to do something, anything, she could to keep Malloy alive. She wasn't a doctor, it wasn't in her hands, but somehow she felt better for being here. Maybe it was just because she could protect him if Ari came after him, trying to finish what he'd started.

She had a feeling he would. Malloy's death could be made to look like the accident caused it, and Ari would get away with it. That could not happen. He could not get past them again.

“Caitlin, might I be right in thinking that perhaps you are blaming yourself?” Ducky asked, and she grimaced. “Though I admit that at times I was frustrated with your decision not to kill him when you had the scalpel in time, I do not believe that you are responsible for everything he has done since then. No, that is not true, however much we might blame ourselves for such things, the fact remains that he still had the free will to make the choices he did.”

“That does not make me feel any better,” Kate told him, and Ducky nodded. “I don't know. I just... I wish I could have believed that he was telling the truth about working for Mossad. Then I would feel like I was right to spare him.”

“Only none of us has ever truly believed that he was sincere in his efforts to aid our allies,” Ducky said. “This is proof.”

“Is it?” Kate countered. “Ari could argue that he was only trying to ensure the safety of his operation and cover by finding out what Bishop might have told us and that Malloy panicked. He was driving. He made the decision to ram that semi. We all agree it was one of few things that he could have done, but it's not the only one. He could have waited, tried to stall.”

“Yet one must figure that his wife would not have been able to alert him to the call she made without also alerting Ari. It was a desperate yet somewhat noble of an act.”

Kate nodded. She agreed with that much. “I just wish I'd been able to have a real conversation with her. She didn't tell me what made her think that Ari was a threat beyond his cover as a terrorist. Even with her position at the NSA, she wouldn't have been aware of his status as a supposed double agent—”

“Though with what we know about him, we know that he was a sleeper agent, one bred perhaps with the hopes of one day infiltrating the organization on the other side. If it was obvious to us, then it was probably obvious to someone looking for those kinds of patterns in behavior,” Ducky said. “She could have seen that, as we did. What interests me is what she saw that made her suspect that he'd turned, to believe that so strongly that she would defy her oaths and her husband to tell you.”

Kate nodded. That was true. What had Bishop known? And... did her husband know? If he did, then they might actually be able to find out from him something that could really help for a change, something that would get them Ari.

Except there was a good chance that Malloy could die before this was all over.

“Are you certain this is where you should be?” Ducky asked. “Perhaps there is an angle to the case that you could be pursuing. I can remain here and keep everyone updated.”

“Don't you have other cases you're working on?” Kate asked, and he gave her a smile, one of his guilty ones. “I'm fine, Ducky. Until I have another direction to investigate, I feel like I should be here. If Bishop hadn't seen me this morning, he wouldn't be in there fighting for his life.”

“Ah, but you do not know that,” Ducky said. “You are taking the blame again for things that are not your doing. You cannot be certain that Ari would not have targeted them for other reasons. Remember, he has formed some kind of connection with this other terrorist who has gone after Bishop in the past.”

“I know,” Kate agreed. “I know all of that, but it doesn't change anything. If Bishop or her husband die, I will never forgive myself.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team tries to find leads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... um... I mentioned how sorry I was for the last chapter and how long it took and how... bad it was. I am still very sorry. I pushed hard to get another chapter out this week that was better, and I can't guarantee I'll be able to do the same thing again, but I tried.
> 
> And I am probably wrong on the medical side of things...

* * *

_Ellie opened the door to the apartment, letting herself inside. She looked around, frowning slightly. The air smelled strange, like maybe a man's cologne, but she'd never known Jake to wear anything like that. His mother gave him the most expensive brands every year, but he didn't like the scent. She preferred him without it._

_Shaking her head, she closed the door and took a step forward. “Jake?”_

_She thought that he'd said he had meetings all day and they'd probably run late, but he could have come back for a late lunch or something. She hadn't seen his car, but then he usually parked inside their garage and not on the street where her old but reliable truck sat. He could still be here._

_She walked into the kitchen, turning on the light. She studied the room, still not seeing any sign of her husband, though if Jake was home, he would have answered her. He wasn't the type to play games like that, and she didn't think he was waiting to surprise her, either. It wasn't that Jake didn't make romantic gestures, but he had been so tired lately, under a lot of pressure, and she didn't expect much from him until things eased up a little._

_Chances were, he'd surprise her anyway. He was sweet like that._

_She headed down the hallway into their bedroom, turning on the light. She stopped, staring._

_There, right in the middle of their bed, was a kite. Not a small kite, no. This thing was rather big, taking up almost as much space as a person would. She blinked, confused. She couldn't see why Jake would have left it there._

_Maybe if the thing was green and yellow and repaired with newspaper, like a certain famous one in a movie—she did love Mary Poppins—then she could kind of see Jake doing it, but this was not something that Jake had done._

_She swallowed. She knew what this was. Kite fighting was a sport she'd suspected Benham Parsa played when he was younger._

_He'd been here. He'd been in her apartment._

_He knew she was the analyst on his case, that she was trying to find him._

_He knew._

* * *

“We get anything from the witnesses?”

“You look like death, Tony. Why don't you go somewhere and lie down?” Tim asked, grimacing. He was still sorting through what he'd gotten from everyone else's phones—pictures, some video, and some social media chatter. Nothing useful so far, but he'd only just started. Most of his time had been taken up speaking to the people at the site, none of whom gave him much of anything. They saw the car, and it went right for the truck.

He never wanted to hear those words again, since he'd gotten them from every witness. Not always in the same words, but they were close enough. They all saw the same thing—nothing.

“We have a missing agent, one in the hospital, and Ari is out there. You think I can really sleep right now?”

Tim sighed. Probably not, but that didn't change the fact that Tony should be resting. He was in no shape to be working, and they all knew it. “You still need to rest.”

“So I'll rest in my chair here. It's kind of comfy... I spent weeks breaking it in properly. You know that. Give me something to do.”

“Tony—”

“I've been going insane while I was at home. Now I can't be at home, and I may as well help you since Kate's at the hospital,” Tony said. “Come on, McGrumpy. Let me lighten the load.”

“You really _were_ bored,” Tim said, finding it difficult to believe that Tony was volunteering for anything. “You sure you want this?”

“Distract me,” Tony said. He grinned weakly. “Limited time offer.”

Tim sighed, knowing he'd kind of be a fool to refuse. He put together a quick email, attaching some pictures to it. “I'm sending you some photos. We need to run a quick check on them, see if there's any possible connection between the vehicles in them and either of our terrorists.”

“Terrorists? We know who else is in Ari's cell this time?”

“No, but he seems to be working with someone named Benham Parsa,” Tim said. He hadn't had much of a chance to read up on that guy yet, but he was trying to figure out what vehicle they might have used to leave the accident. If they could track it—he was sure that Ari had abandoned it by now, but they might still get some trace to help them figure out where he took Bishop.

“Huh. What do we know about Parsa?”

“Better ask Kate,” Tim said. He saw Tony's frown and shrugged. “She was with Abby when they found out about him. She and Abby looked him up. I've been doing other things, and right now, I need to get back to them. I still have a bunch of photos to get through—there were a lot of cars on that road and I only gave you a handful of them.”

Tony nodded. “Fair enough. Let's see what I can do.”

He made a show of cracking his knuckles before getting to work. He started typing, one finger at a time, and then stopped, coughing up a lung. Tim shook his head. Normally, he'd have something to say about just how unbelievable Tony was, but the guy was trying. That had to count for something, didn't it?

“Maybe you should go down and see Ducky,” Tim suggested, hoping that the medical examiner was back from his visit to the hospital by now. “I swear you sound worse than you did earlier.”

Tony gave him a weak glare before going back to his search. Tim rolled his eyes and went back to his own monitor. He still had plenty of photos to search through, and he'd have to crossreference the ones that he hadn't given to Tony. He might still have to do those ones, too, depending on how Tony fared for the rest of the day.

Somehow, though, Tim didn't think they were going to find Bishop alive.

* * *

“He out of surgery yet?”

Kate turned around with a frown. She hadn't figured anyone else would show up here. They'd ask her for an update or they'd yell at her to leave. Why would Gibbs be here? Wasn't there some lead to chase down somewhere? There had to be something. They needed to find Bishop. Fast. 

“Gibbs?”

“You forget who I am all of a sudden?”

She shook her head. “No, I just... I guess I thought you'd be working.”

Gibbs shrugged. “Got nothing to work on yet. Old leads on Ari got us nowhere, no one's answering any questions about Parsa, and Abby's still doing more tests. Need answers. Figured Malloy might have some of them.”

“If he survives the surgery _and_ if he wakes up afterward,” Kate told him. “We don't know that he will. And it could still take hours for him to come out of anesthesia. Even Ducky admitted that he should probably go back to work rather than waiting here.”

“Then why are you still here?”

Kate sighed. She didn't want to explain her reasons. Gibbs probably wouldn't think much of them, and she wasn't really in the mood to argue about them. Ducky had tried to talk to her, to ease her guilt, but it wasn't enough. She knew he meant well, and his arguments were valid, but she still felt the same.

“Gibbs, she came to me,” Kate said. “I know that she wasn't planning on it, our paths crossed at random, but she still came to me, put her career and her marriage on the line to warn me about Ari. I can't help thinking that if she hadn't tried to warn me that she wouldn't have been abducted. Her husband would have been safe instead of fighting for his life. She wouldn't be in their hands. Who knows what they're going to do to her, if she's alive, if they're—”

“She was a target before she ever met you,” Gibbs said. “Being NSA put the bullseye on her, not you. Far as I can tell, we might be damned lucky she broke protocol and told you Ari was here. If she hadn't, who knows what the hell he would have done before we were aware he was in the country.”

“So if Bishop and Malloy die, we should just be okay with that because we have a small idea what Ari is up to? Because we actually _don't._ We don't know anything more than that he's here. He may be working with Parsa, but we can't prove that. We don't know where he is, what he's doing to Bishop. We only know that he went after Bishop and her husband. That got us nothing except maybe two more bodies.”

“Neither one of them is a body,” Gibbs disagreed. “Yet.”

Kate snorted. “That's not—”

“Story is lead on the news. Morrow pushed from the extra press on this one,” Gibbs told her, and she frowned.

“You hate reporters. Wait—you want to try and use Malloy as bait for some kind of trap,” Kate said. “If Ari knows that he survived, he would need to come here to find him and tie up a loose end.”

“He'd expect the trap.”

“Of course he would.” Kate started to pace, frustrated. “We set a trap, he finds a way to spring it, and we get nothing.”

“Not necessarily,” Gibbs said, and she shook her head. This really wasn't the time for blind optimism. That wasn't going to save anyone. Or help them. Hell, it wasn't even like Gibbs.

“You have some kind of plan, don't you?”

Gibbs just smiled.

* * *

Malloy was a mess of tubes, bandages, and machines. Gibbs watched him, waiting for any sign of life. Officially, he was already a dead man, but that didn't get him off the hook. Gibbs needed answers, and Malloy was going to have to be the one to give them to him. Abby was still waiting on results, McGee and DiNozzo had nothing, but Malloy might be faster.

He just had to wake the hell up.

Gibbs wanted to find a way to hurry him along. He knew there had to be drugs, not that anyone would give them to Malloy in his condition. They'd want to do things all natural, let him come out of it on his own.

Trouble was, bad as that accident was, Gibbs wasn't so sure that he would wake on his own.

He shook the bed. He knew it wouldn't do any good, but it made him feel better, even with Kate's eyes on him, full of disapproval.

“He was sedated for surgery, Gibbs. We're lucky he made it out of that crash alive, and you're shaking his damn bed?”

Gibbs grunted. “If he's that under, he didn't feel anything.”

“That doesn't make it right,” Kate told him, rolling her eyes. Gibbs shrugged. He wasn't going to apologize.

The machines started screaming, and he frowned, looking back to see that Malloy was awake and trying to pull out his breathing tube. Kate rushed over, trying to calm him. She put a hand on his arm, speaking to him in a gentle voice.

“Easy, Mr. Malloy,” Kate urged. “You're in the hospital. You remember the accident? You drove your car into a semi and shouldn't have survived it. You're lucky.”

“Call the nurse. Get one of them in here to—never mind,” Gibbs muttered, seeing a woman in scrubs enter the room. She went over to the bed. “He wants the tube out. Don't think he'll calm down until it is.”

“Well, it can't come out if he's agitated,” the nurse said, and Malloy stilled. He eyed her warily, but he didn't fight her as she examined him. She looked him over, checking everything. Gibbs waited impatiently, wanting to get her out of there so they could talk to him.

She nodded when she was done. “I need to get the doctor.”

Malloy shook his head, starting to freak out again. Gibbs caught her arm. “Take the damn tube out already.”

“I really shouldn't—”

“This man's wife is missing, and he's the only one who can help us find her before it's too late. Take the tube out. Then go get the doctor.”

She jerked her arm away from his, about to tell him off when Kate spoke.

“Please.”

The nurse relented, going over and taking the tube out of his mouth. Gibbs moved her out of the away as Malloy tried to speak, his voice not coming out loud enough to be heard. He leaned in close to hear the other man rasp out a few words.

“Russia... Pakis... Pakistan... Sergei...”

“What?” Gibbs demanded, not sure what the hell any of that meant, but then the monitors went off, buzzing and wailing. The nurse shoved her way close to the bed, hitting a button above it.

“He's coding! Get a crash cart in here, now!”


End file.
